[undecipherable] Gen^l Mason hea[undecipherable] [undecipherable] that the Officer command[undecipherable] Fort Maspac took up a man [undecipherable] of labourers to the number of 150 or so — by a Military guard, which man had hired a Salt works, of the Indians, & thought he was innocently about his lawful business, broke his Kittles, spilled scattered his Salt over the face of the Earth, confiscated his Waggons & Teams, & put it into the use of the United States, & receiving [undecipherable] a allowg a day for the [undecipherable] with their homes. That the men were put in irons & sent down the river Mississippi for [undecipherable] Natchez — The men [undecipherable] are the guard [undecipherable] of the guards liberated themselves, sent back the Serj^t guard, with their Complts to the commanding Officer at the Fort Maspac — That the [undecipherable] guard being redispersd at this, hired the Indians to go into Kentucky who there killed a man — for which they gave them 25 Gallons of whiskey — & that the garrison bragged of it when he [and [undecipherable]] was there last Summer — I believe he stated the facts to have taken place last Summer — — I wish to know if this Statement is true, because if so, the Officer should be tried by a Court Martial — [undecipherable] [undecipherable] in any part of [undecipherable] [undecipherable] Hon^ble Sec^y at War — 14^th April 1800 — N.B. who commanded at Fort Maspac last Summer ?— I think [Paul Mason] states to have heard this Story from a Gen^l or a M^r Hopkins, a very respectable man in Kentucky — I do not understand him to state any part of it from his personal knowledge — If this is true, ought it not to be enquired into & [undecipherable] —